Door-opening device



Sept. 21 1926. ,6oo,59

P. :i: SKULEY ET AL DOOH OPENING DEVICE Filed Sept. 24, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 NVENTOR PH/LIP SKMLEY TEPHBEYN HMEA'oL/m 4076 A'ITORNEY Sq.21,192& L60Q519 P. J. SKULEY ET AL DOOR OPENING DEVICE ea Sept. 24, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet' :5

INVENTOR BIM/P .I Sin/1.57

Patented Sept. 21, 1926.

UNITED STATES i 1500519 PATENT OFFICE.,

v PHILIP JuSKULEY AND STEPHEN H. MEKULICH, or TACOMA, wAsHrNeToN.

DOOR-OPENING DEvIcE.

Application filed September 24, 1924. Serial No. ?39,492.

` This invention' relates to mechanism for automatically opening and closing doors, gates, or the like, and more .particularly to ,mechanism of that character used in connection with the doors of a garage whereby the weight of a vehicle, as it approaches the entrance, is utilized to swing the doors from closed to open position so that there is no need of the doors being'manually opened.

Another objectresides in the provision of means whereby the doors may be automati- V cally 'opened when the entrance is approached by a vehicle either in entering or leaving the garage. I p A still further object sto provide'means 'for closing thedoors after a vehicle has entered or departed from the garage and for looking them by means that maybe released by a lever located outside the garage at a` zo. 'position 'where it can be easilyreached by a person in a'vehicle as it approaches the entrance.

Other objects of the invention reside in the various details of Construction and com- .bination'of parts embodied by the nvention "and in their mode of operation.

y In accomplishing these and other objects of the invention, we have provided the impanying proved details of construction, the preferred forms 'of which` are illustrated in the accomdrawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective View showing the j entrance of a garage equipped with doors Vention.

adapted tobe operated by mechanism constructed in'accordance With the present in- Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of the door opening and closingv mechanism, showing parts of the garage in horizontal section for better illustration; p

'Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view 'i taken for the most part on the line 3--3 in i Figure 2. r

Figure 4: s a vertical, sectional detail showingone of the door locking devices and its connection With the control leVer.

Referring more in detail to the several thegarage, at opposite sides of the entrance as s best shown n Fgure 2, are Vertical 'guide housings 6-6' in which weights 7-7' are suspended from cables 8-8' which eX- tend upwardly over sheave wheels 9-9' at the upper ends of the guide housings and sheave wheels 10-10" fixed :to -the lintel ll' across the top of the entrance and are attached at their ends, respectively, to the swngng edges of the doors 3-3' as a means of closing the latter after a vehicle has entered or left the garage. These weights 7-7' are of suflicient weight also to move the door opening mechanism, presentlydescribed, back to normal position after a door opening operation. i

Contnuing from the at the front thereof is a platformfor approach, 16 that overliesa pit l7 and supfloor 15 of the garage portecl fiush with the surface of the `platform 'in parallel openings 18 and 18' which form substantially into' the garage, are runway planks 19-19' and 20-20' the planks beng arranged in pairs with the planks 19-19' 'supported hngedly at their outer ends by hinges 21 from the outer ends of' their openings and resting at their inner ends on a transverse beam- 22, while the planks 20-20' are `hingedly`supported at their inner ends by hinges 23 from the inner'ends of the openings 18-18' and at" their outer' ends rest upon the transverse beam 22. These openingsl--jlf are spaced apart a distance equal to the standard spacing of the opposite side wheels of an autoextend from near the outer edge of the platmobile and are so' located with respect'to the garage entrance that a vehicle'may travel r into or from planks.

At its opposite-ends the transversebeam '22, above mentoned, is supported upon lever bearns 25-25' which are arranged in the pit 17 n parallel relation to the runway planks the garage' on the runwayand which' are pivotally supported at their inner ends upon a transverse beam 26 that extends beneath the floor 15 of the garage just back of the 'inner ends of the openings `18--l8'. lever beams, in: spaced relation longitudinally thereof, are sheave wheels 27 and 28 Fixed to the outer ends'of these and fixed to the under side of the platform i I l6 in alinement with but between the sheaves 27 and 28 are sheave wheels 30,

'(see Figure 3) and eXtended respectively over the sheaves of the two levers are cables llO 31 and 31' which have ends attached to the under side of the platform, as shown at 32 and which extend upwardly, after passing over the sheaves 27, within hollow columns 33-33' ereoted at opposite sides of the runway and over sheave wheels 34-34' mounted within the upper ends of the latter and then are extended, as shown in Figure 2, to the doors to which they are respectively at tached by the anchor bolts ?fli-35', the ini ner ends of which may be used for attach- V ing the cables 8 and 8'.

lVith this Construction, the weights'-'' through the cables 8-8' normally retain' the doors closed, and through cables 31-31' su aortthe lever'beams 25' in such o- Pl u sition that the runway planks are held flush with the platform and floor of the garage. When the runway planks have been lifted to this fiush position they cannot be raised higher for the reasonthat the cross beam 22 engages withthe under side ot' the platform' and the doors are closed against a stop 36 provided along under side of the iintel ll.

Should a vehicle be driven onto the outer runway planks l9 l9, its weight will cause the planks to be pressed downw'ardly,

as. shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, and thus the cross beam 22 causes the lever beamsf25-25 tobe moved downwardly and the cables 3l-31' to be drawn down and the doors tobe swung open and against the stop blocks 5-5'.

- After the vehicle has passed into the garage, the weights 7-7' acting through cables 8-8' draw the doors closed and lift V therunway planks to normal position.

The same action takes place should the i vehicle move from within the ga'age onto the inner runway planks 20-20' and the doors will be held open until the vehicle has passed from the outer runway planks.

To 'add rigidity to the column structure, the latter are connected across theirrupper ends by a cross beam 40 and itit is necessary other suitable bracingrcould be pro vided to withstand the pull of the cables that i lead from the upper ends of the columns.

Vile have also provided a locking mechanism for the two doors and have provided means whereby the locks may be released by o a person in a vehicle approaching the en-` trance.

platform toward its forward end where y are attached to arms -50' on a cross 'Fixed to one end of the shai't 52 and eX- tended upwardly through an opening 53 in the platform is a lock release lever 54 provided with a slot 55 for receiving a loop fixed to standard 56 that is rigidly mounted on the platform adjacent the run- A padlock 58 may be used to lock the lever to the standard. VVhenit is desired unlock the doors, the padlock is removed and the lever 54 swings outwardly to thereby rotate sha't 51 to draw on cables 48-48' and thereby release thelocking bolts from the doors. V i r r It is readily apparent that by such construction, the doorscan be automatically opened and closed andthusa driver ot a vehicle is not required toget out and open and then close the doors when entering or leaving the garage.

p t is further apparent that various changes in the details of construction and combination oi"- part s could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and for 'this reason we do not wish tobe limited only to the details herein shown i Having thus described our invention, what 'we claim as new therein and desire to secure byLettersPatent, is

l. The combination with a' building having a vehicle entrance and 'doors hingedlyo mounted in said entrance to Swing outwardly from closed to open position, of yieldable means for normally retanin'g the doors closed; a floor for the 'building and' an approach to the. entrance continuing from said floor having parallel openings therein leading into the building through said entrance, a cross beamrdisposed below said approach, two runway planks disposed end to end in eachbt said openings having their outer ends pivotally supported at the opposite ends of said openings and their adjacent inner ends supported on said cross beam, a I

pair of levers disposed parallel to the runway planks and beneath'the beam to support `the cross beam, means pivotally supporting the inner ends of said levers, and cables attached to the doors and having operative connection with the said levers whereby downward movement .of 'the latter, incidental tothe weight of a vehicle on the runway planks, will cause the doors to be opened. 'i e 2. The combination with'a building havinga vehicle entrance and a pair of doors hnged to the opposite sides of said entrance to swing outwardly `from closed to open position and stops for limiting the opening and closing movements of said doorsfof cable guides within the building, weights and suspendng cables attached to said weights and passing over said guides and attached to said doors for yieldably retaining them in closed position, an approach platform to the entrance and a continuing floor in said buildin having openings therein leading in paralle ed relat-ion through said entrance, a pair of lever beams disposed arallel with the said openings and extended from within the building outwardly beneath the approach, pivotal supports for the inner ends of said levers, a cross beam beneath the approach supported at its ends on said levers, a pair of runway planks dsposed end to end in each of said openings, pivotally-supported at their outer ends with their adjacent ends resting on said cross beam, a pair'of columns erected at opposite sides of the approacln sheaves at the upper ends of said columns, sheaves on the outer ends of said levers and cables attached to the doors and passing over said column sheaves and lever sheaves and attached to the platform Whereby downward movement of the levers incidental to the Weight of a vehicle on the runway planks Will cause the doors to be opened.

Signed at Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, this 7th day of August 1924.

' p STEPHEN H. MEKULICH.

PHILIP J. SKULEY. i 

